who moved to another state
Oakie
Member Posts: 40,510 ✭✭✭✭
???? Wonder what your experiences were like. As we are getting ready to retire and move, Wife is getting cold feet. Not me. I make friends real easy and am looking forward to being able to ride my motorcycle everyday. I want to be able to Bass fish all year and shoot my guns. I will also be closer to my family and real close to my BIL and SIL and other friends. The only thing I won't like, is it will take me 12 hours to get to my mountain house, instead of 4. Not even considering selling it. It will stay in the family. As much as I had my heart on living in the mountains, we will retire closer to the shore. That is fine too, as I can take my boat out for some fresh fish and crabs!!!!!!!!! You southern boys call them sea trout, and we call them Weakies. I know to keep my political thoughts to myself and find a good church to attend. That will be a hard one. We are both Methodist/Catholic, and most of the churches we have seen down south are Baptist.
What are some of the things we should be aware of, besides being Yankees🤣. I'm actually from the south , but lived here most of my life, and Donna is Amish, from the Pennsylvania Dutch country.
Comments
What mountains? If it's those little hills way out East, you might consider the Carolinas or somewhere just a bit inland from Jacksonville to be out of the hurricane zone. Access to both fresh and salt from there.
Never had a need to move as I was born in one of the best states! 😁
Seriously tho, DO talk about religion and politics.......how else will you find friends? I have friends at all ends of the spectrums, and none of them have ever fallen out over religion or politics(or any other topic, fishing/hunting/guns ect.). If your new friends can't handle different ideas then maybe they shouldn't be your new friends.😁
Wife and I moved from Oregon to Montana last year, best thing we've ever done. Just fit in to your local surroundings and don't try to change anything. Oh, make sure you get rid of your out of state tags asap....
Seriously look at NC. Eastern part for sure . We have mild winters .Jacksonville area is good . As is the wayne county area. . I am in goldsboro , 90 minutes to thebeach and 7 hours to the mountains.
Friends are overrated. Don
8 words of advice for wherever you go: Don't try to change it to New Jersey. Seriously, watch the natives (not the transplants) for a while and pay attention to their customs. From what I see of you on here, you'll be fine.
Oakie, It will probably be a cultural shock at first. When i visit my second home in Virginia and go into closest town to shop for food etc I get the look "Here comes another Damn Yankee " when the locals see my NY plates. Then they see my sons WVA and my Army sticker on my truck. Does not take them long to find out I am a native Patriot from Virginia and all my relatives are buried nine miles away. Soon they will all be "Damn Yankees" down there from the mass exodus from the Socialist State of NY.
My guess is don't give it a second thought. I suspect you come from good stock and will fit in no matter where you settle down. ---------------------------Ray
I've moved to other states, twice. Both times years ago.
After 50 years in Illinois, we retired and moved to Missouri. We were a bit of an oddity to some of the locals when we first got here. We were retired, in our cases, not working full time anywhere. I still get asked all the time, "what do you do to stay busy" and 'how come you don't plant a big garden every year" ?
Some folks thought we were city folks so what did we know about taking care of our farm. Simple answer, I grew up in the county... It was like coming home as I have been walking around on this farm since I was 17 and visited my Bride's folks even before we were married...
I used to get asked about what I did in my working days. When I tell them, the answer is usually something along the lines of Well someone has to do that !
We had a little advantage when we got here.....My Bride has family in the area so we knew folks before we got here. The family that farms our lands have done so for over 40 years so I have known them all since I was still in my teens. We plugged in to a good church, started serving in different ministries and have made developed many great relationships with others there.
There are guys I fish and hunt with as well as range time so there are good connections here for me.... My Bride is into gardening, DAR and history so she joined up and is active in a garden club, DAR and the Historical Society in our area.
For us it was a little weird at first, but that changed quickly....But the main thing is we have each other and are happy to be here together !!
My top 2 states I would consider moving to is Texas or Alabama ❤️
"Independence Now, Independence Forever."
John Adams
I would have to get permission from the Witness Protection Plan people first. And they would advise me not to divulge where I would like to transfer to.
Just one more thing to consider for anywhere you move to is the distance to the nearest Supermarket. I used the old word for what most today would call a Big Box Food Center. A busy food place that sells groceries at competitive prices. I live out in the country but only have to drive 10 miles to reach either a Meijers or a Walmart from here. I know many small towns around nearer counties that are some 50+ miles away from the major grocery places. Shopping at convenience party stores and gas stations can be very expensive!
Being Air Force, moving to another state became second nature. I moved a LOT less than some others because I was full time active duty for only 11 years. But it was Illinois to Texas to Mississippi to Florida. Then finally to Utah, where we will stay the rest of our days. No more humidity for us!
Utah is wonderful, but the word got out. Population has doubled in 35 years and will double again in less than 10 more. There isn't a square yard of level dirt that hasn't been visited by Johnnie Condoseed. Thankfully, 90% of the state is still empty and will stay that way. There's only one real population center, 100 miles long and 10 wide. But that part is packed.
Anyway, the advice about fitting in is good. Watch, listen, and wait before you try to impose your values.
FLORIDA
My sisters and parents live in Texas. One sister in Humble and the other in Katy. My parents are part time in Fort Worth and PA.
There is no way I would ever bring my NJ values south!!!! I will say that, I live in South Jersey, farm country, where everyone is a Republican and a gun owner. Our values are different then those of North Jersey!!!!! We don't live in a neighborhood, but more of a country setting. My house backs up to thousands of acres of forest, Call the Wharton state forest. We are called Pineys, by everyone in NJ, as that is our playground. We don't do city folk things or the shore. We mostly drive our trucks, quads and dirt bikes, out through the pines. We fish , Hunt and camp out in Nature, not designated campgrounds.
As Rocky stated, we don't have real mountains, more like hills. We looked at NC, and that fell third on our list behind, Tennessee/Alabama and Georgia. My best friend live in Guntersville, Alabama. When I retire in two years, He has a part time job waiting for me, that covers The area we want to live. It is working for the coroners office , picking up bodies. I use to be an EMT, so this won't bother me, as I have seen the worse of the worse. It pays 900 a week, part time. Even though I don't need the money, I want to stay active. I might consider working at a golf course or even a Home depot, just to get out of the house.
Anyway, where ever we move to in Georgia, It has to have some acreage and access to a good Hospital.
Passed through other states, many. I thank the good Lord daily that my ancestors decided to live where they did. I now live 1 mile from where I grew up, about 1/4 mile from where my GGGGGrandfather settled this area. Distant cousin of Ole "Danel".
Some of my ancestors run "Shine" and their close relatives were revenuers. You know how that turned out.
Many of the young men moved north in the 50'sand 60's to seek a living, cities that are crap holes today.
Agree with previous post, find a good place and don't try to change it. Happens all the time, Asheville use to be a great city to visit, not so now, liberals have taken it over and crime abounds.
Boone was also a great place to hang out 30 years ago, liberal college and liberal leaders fixed all that.
I lived in Mississippi for five years and Florida for nine. You have to really like humidity to live in the South. There's also the very serious amount of Bible pounding in the entire region. You cannot escape being Bibled. If you get 12 radio stations, 11 of them will be religious. The other one will be country - with Jesus songs.
In the 1970s, there were still segregated restrooms and water fountains in Mississippi. I doubt much has changed. It isn't as obvious as it once was, but there are many places where a person of whichever race dares not go.
At least the hunting and fishing are good.
I have seen racism while we were traveling down south. Shame that people still feel this way. I don't ever judge a man by the color of his skin, but rather what is in his heart. Quick story. While Donna and I were in Saint Simons Island last year, there was a brother and two sister fishing out on the pier. They were Black. They meet there every year for a family reunion. As we were talking, the brother said, excuse me and got up and left. A half hour later, he returned with a barbecue dinner for them, and us!!!!!! He asked us to join them for dinner and some more conversation. Best night we had down there. He was a local guy and told me, when you move down here , I will introduce you to a nice gun club and show you where you can fish and hunt. We ended up hanging out for six hours with them and I felt like we had been friend our whole lives.
Then I have seen where some locals still use to N word to reference others. Not impressed . Maybe they thought we wouldn't mind the derogatory remarks. It just made them look small in unintelligent, IMHO.
There are cream and scum people everywhere.
Yes they are but they seem to gather in certain places.
Areed. I'm a transplant but married a local. Close to 80% of Utah's population is along the Wasatch Front. If we stay in Utah, and when I retire in 5 years, we'll head to Fairview, Manni, Mt. Pleasant, or similar. Wife even liked one of the "P" cities we drove through last year going to Kanab - Panguitch, Parowan, or Paragonah. Don't remember which one.
if you move to miscokie you'll never get the song out of your head...........
I’m in Roswell, Ga. I have a lot of family in Ellijay and Blue Ridge. If you ever want a ride along I can point you to the right direction. Just pm me
Thank you @roswellnative , for clarifying this. I have always assumed by your moniker you were in Rosswell NM.
Home of 1947's UFO crash.
You mean the UFO hoax. I assumed the same thing.
We hit a new state every time we get new orders. So far:
Virginia (x 4): My home state, and I still love it. Won't settle there, though, because of the way it is changing.....and the taxes.
Alabama: Rural areas around Lookout Mountain and otherwise were very nice. However, a lot of the state was really trashy and depressed, especially in any kind of city. To AL's credit though, it WAS nicer than Mississippi, and WAY nicer than Louisiana.
North Carolina: The coast is great and the mountains are even better. Everything in between those, however, I could do without.
Texas: Other than the big cities, loved everything about Texas. It has a distinct culture that grows on you quick. Of all the places we have lived, my kids (who were not born there) still tell people that Texas is their home state.
Colorado: Beautiful in the mountains west of Colorado Springs and elsewhere. (Note: The mountains ain't nearly as beautiful the Blue Ridge, though!). Absolutely desolate/windy in the plains to the east. People are a mixed bag; definitely not the South. Lots of drug activity, and lots of vagrants all over. Colorado was the only place on this list where I had real crime concerns. We'd go hiking up in mountains, and (especially in the areas along the front range), you just never knew when some homeless/deranged druggie was going to pop out and acost you. Had a couple of tense stand-offs that I hope to never repeat.
Florida: Love the panhandle. Beautiful beaches; crystal clear springs, nice people, and still very rural. South FL is an absolute zoo, and central/north FL is just starting to become one big sprawling mess. Car/home insurance prices are at least two or three times higher than any other state I have listed here.
Georgia: Love it.....and hate it. Fantastic folks down here. Friendliest I have met anywhere. Good hunting/fishing, and lots of rural, open areas. Hottest place I have ever lived, though. Hotter than Mobile, Houston, or Miami! Like living inside a terrarium or a crock pot. Really nice in the winter months, though! I truly enjoyed not having to get bundled up for hunting.
Hope that helps! Good luck.
Frogdog, Yes, Virginia is changing. I am confused by your Virginia taxes.
My average size house in Monroe, NY sits on 50' X 150' lot. The taxes are $7,500. If I were not a veteran they would be closer to $9,000.
The taxes on my small house that sits on three acres in Virginia are $830. ---------Ray
I moved back to Idaho. I don't recommend moving to a blue state, at all.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
And I can't even imagine that a person would consider moving TO a place where they would have to keep their mouth shut about politics or religion in order to fit in. That would be a dumb move, IMO.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
What I specifically meant was state income tax. Not that VA is the highest on those. However, I just intend to settle in a state that won't tax my military retirement.
VA does have some tax issues that I detest, however, beyond income and real property tax:
Ultimately, all the little taxes and added fees add onto the bigger taxes to where the state just sucks you dry.
Frogdog, understand now.
Still if I made the move I would save $6,670 in Real Estate taxes to play with.
Several of the Ring Knockers at the Point warned me that Virginia would tax my wife's Survivors Reduced Annuity. -----------------------Ray
There are several sites that give tax info per state & county, etc. for you to compare. This is just one ...
https://smartasset.com/retirement/retirement-taxes
With recent changes, I would pay less income tax in Jersey but wayyyy more in real estate tax, sales tax & food cost. Of course, alcohol is less in Jersey. Savings on what I bought there, paid for the gas each trip.
Sorry,South Carolina is already full,10% native,90% transplants.
Frogdog, as a nc native I agree that many areas in between the mountains and the coast have been overrun with idiots from other places . They are usually easy to spot the wear black socks , Bermuda shorts and sandals . Ignore them and concentrate on finding some locals to hang out with .
My wife's two uncles live in Ellijay. Both retired Marines. They both passed away about three or four years ago. Never managed to get there, to see them. We did end up in Helen GA, when we left Alabama. Now that was a cool adventure. Like leaving the United States and ending up in Germany, after an hour ride. LOL. That Cherokee National forest was the most scenic ride we ever had. What an awesome place. Definitely driving through there in May, on our way back to Alabama. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! It was like God's little playground.
I lived in Raleigh for 10 years. Just around the corner is the town of Cary which many said stood for Containment Area for Relocated Yankees. They weren't exaggerating! :D
I miss the mountains of Virginia where I grew up but I can't see myself ever leaving Colorado to move back there. Colorado has become home and despite its flaws, I really like it here.
🇺🇲 "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." - Thomas Jefferson 🇺🇲
I think all of Cherokee is in Tn, joins the NC state line mostly north to south. May be cut in the middle by the Smokey Mtn National Forest. Pisgah National Forest is in WNC south of here towards Asheville.